We love the presentation in the Reaching for Personal Freedom workbook, because it helps us understand how we can use the Traditions and Concepts in our own lives, in our families, and other relationships.

Did you grow up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional family? How has this affected your life today? How can you recover from your childhood experiences?

The ACA or ACOA program was created in the 1970s by a group of Alateen members who needed a program that focused on recovery from their experiences growing up in alcoholic or dysfunctional families. It is a separate 12-step program similar to, but separate from Al-Anon. Emily joins Spencer to explore how ACA is different from but also works together with Al-Anon in her recovery.

Brinn Black is a singer and songwriter from Nashville. She wrote a song, Daddy's Medicine, about her experience growing up with an alcoholic father. Our conversation with Brinn was guided by these questions:

Brinn, I have to say that the first few lines just grabbed my heart:

When you're five you don't know
there's a stranger in your home
it's quiet but it's dangerous.
But a child's heart can tell
the meaning of a yell

Although I did not grow up in a home with alcoholism, my children did. I saw their life from the outside, but not the inside.

What inspired you to write this song?

Can you tell us more about your experience as a child with an alcoholic father?

You have said “it tore your family apart” — did he, or the rest of you, leave because of the drinking?

I used to think that my love could conquer alcoholism. So I find the lyrics of the chorus particularly poignant:

How different my life would have been
if my love were stronger than
my Daddy's medicine.

I believe that these lines express the wish and hope of every one of us who has experienced the pain of living with active alcoholism. How did you mean these lines when you wrote them?

How has this song helped you and your family to heal?

How has this song been received when you perform it?

Where do you find yourself in your journey to recovery from your childhood experience?

What has helped you in this struggle?

Many of my listeners are still living with the effects of alcoholism. What would you say to someone who grew up affected by alcoholism, and is still working to “get over it”?